Protests, Vandalism in Bay Area After Garner Decision

Several small demonstrations broke out Wednesday evening in San Francisco and Oakland after a grand jury in New York City decided not to indict a police officer in the death of Eric Garner during an arrest last summer. Hundreds gathered for a march in downtown Oakland, which resulted in some petty vandalism but no arrests, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. In San Francisco, a “die-in” on Market Street garnered dozens.

In suburban Palo Alto, in the heart of Silicon Valley, dozens of demonstrators, including Stanford University students, blocked portions of the 101 freeway, as reported Wednesday evening by local CBS News affiliate KPIX.

Garner’s death is being cited by activists–and by President Barack Obama–as the latest example of racial bias in policing. The past several days have seen nationwide protests, some of them violent and destructive, after a grand jury in Ferguson, Missouri declined to indict former police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of teenager Michael Brown. Brown, like Garner, had been unarmed; unlike Garner, he had attacked the officer.